Civic Center Parkade Upgrades

[sgrizzle]

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=070925_1_A11_hTheT04352

quote:
Parkade project costs increasing
Tulsa World



By BRIAN BARBER World Staff Writer
9/25/2007
Last Modified: 9/25/2007  3:20 AM

The Tulsa Parking Authority might add $2 million to its budget to reconfigure work on the garage's ramps.


The Tulsa Parking Authority is considering adding as much as $2 million to its budget to reconfigure the Civic Center Parkade ramps because of rising costs.

The 1,400-space, multilevel garage is considered a prime source for parking for the BOK Center when the new venue opens in September 2008.

The project, which received $4 million in funding from the 2006 third-penny sales-tax package, entails changing the circular ramps on the eastern side so that the garage loads and unloads more quickly.

It also includes adding interior ramps between levels on the western side of the building to improve the vertical flow.

Bids that were received by the city indicated that the project needs an additional $2,061,164 to be fully completed.

That is largely because of the busy construction market in the Tulsa area and the continued rising costs of materials, said Paul Zachary, the Public Works Department's deputy director of engineering.

City officials have rejected the bids and restructured
the project for rebidding so that the ramps on the western side are the top priority.

The ramps on the eastern side would be an option.

Public Works Department senior engineer Paul Mattke said: "This will allow us to proceed with at least half the project, if we don't receive any additional money. We already have ramps on the east side, even though they are very hard to navigate, so we'd want to get the west ramps done first."

But altered ramps on the eastern side of the garage are sorely needed, he said.

The new design would allow traffic to exit onto Fourth Street, rather than all onto Third Street, which will be congested with pedestrians during arena events.

Parking authority members agreed that they would wait until the new bids are received in October before deciding whether to infuse more cash into the project.

Regardless of how much of the project will be completed, the work will not be finished by the time the arena opens in a year, Mattke said.

It could take as long as 18 months.

But the garage still will be usable because the work will be done in stages, he said.

"That's one reason the timeline is so long," Mattke said. "The work has to be done around a functioning structure."

[NellieBly]

Isn't this a fairly new structure? Was the original design bad?

I was recently in the St. John's parking garage and it's a mess. There is barely enough room for two cars in the lanes and I noticed they have removed one or two spots at the top and bottom of each ramp. They did not leave enough room for people to negotiate the turns with cars parked at the end. It was a really bad design.

[dsjeffries]

quote:Originally posted by NellieBly

Isn't this a fairly new structure? Was the original design bad?

I was recently in the St. John's parking garage and it's a mess. There is barely enough room for two cars in the lanes and I noticed they have removed one or two spots at the top and bottom of each ramp. They did not leave enough room for people to negotiate the turns with cars parked at the end. It was a really bad design.

I love the St. John's parking garage, even if it is a bit narrow, it's still nice to 'drive' and has an amazing view.

[PonderInc]

I knew a guy who thought it would be fun to spiral down the civic center parking garage ramp on rollerblades.

He only did it once.

I'm sorry I missed it.